Before you install Exchange 2000, you must prepare the Microsoft Windows 2000 forest. Specifically, you must extend the schema in the Microsoft Active Directory directory service to fit Exchange 2000, and you must grant permissions to the users or groups who will be installing the first Exchange 2000 computer. After you do so, you must create two security groups in every domain to host either an Exchange 2000 computer or mail-enabled users. These security groups provide the Exchange Server computers with the permissions they must have to perform administrative functions. The Exchange 2000 CD includes the following two utilities that you can use to perform these tasks:
Benefits of ForestPrep and DomainPrep
Many organizations do not want their messaging administrators to have high-level domain or enterprise rights. Typically, Exchange 2000 administrators are part of a team that is separate from the team that designs and maintains the company intranet. Organizations that are running Exchange Server 5.5, which has its own directory service, can function in this manner; however, Exchange 2000 uses Active Directory and requires that the network and messaging teams (especially teams in larger organizations) work together to make sure that the servers are running at optimal performance.
For organizations that do not yet work with this kind of structure, ForestPrep and DomainPrep separate the Exchange 2000 Setup tasks that require high-level network permissions from those that do not. For example, Windows 2000 administrators that have Enterprise Admin permissions and Schema Admin permissions run ForestPrep. When they use ForestPrep, they designate an account as the Exchange Server administrator account. This Exchange Server administrator account has enough rights (after both utilities are run) to perform the actual Exchange Server installation.